These last few years, the internet and social media have become an inescapable part of our daily lives. Nowadays, companies have fully understood the strength of this digital tool, and are putting more and more effort into building, feeding and improving their digital platforms. Social media have become an indispensable element of a unique, personalized, and lower cost contemporary marketing strategy. Through this article, I will elucidate how Adidas has built and control its brand image online, how the brand uses this social media tool to convey messages and values, and the degree of coherence between Adidas’s brand image and their social media. As part of this online analysis, I will explore Adidas’s Instagram wall.
Official Adidas Instagram wall
The first impression when visiting Adidas’s Instagram wall is the sober, clear and sportive aspect of the posts. Posts are wisely chosen by the brand digital team, in order to put sport at the forefront. A raw and natural picture of high-level sportsman or woman in action is the kind of post you will often find on Adidas’s Instagram wall. Obviously, athletes are wearing Adidas clothes, and as a description there is an inspiring and motivating quote from them. As an example, the post below is representing the South African rugby man Siya Kolisi wearing an Adidas jersey tank top, accompanied by a high spirit quote about sport.
Adidas Instagram post (October 9, 2020)
The second type of post Instagram is to present a new product of the brand, or to announce the launch of an iconic product. Products are presented in a beautiful staging, and as a description the main benefits and characteristics of the product. For instance, Adidas presented the “FUTURECRAFT.STRUNG” shoe, seamless and with a lower weight; or for the launch of the Ultra Boost 20. Precision, performance and innovation are the watchwords.
Adidas Instagram post (October 8, 2020)
Moreover, Adidas is extremely involved in current societal causes and is committed to give support to each worthwhile cause. Recently, Adidas supports through many posts the Black Lives Matter movement and puts the fight against racism at the forefront, with three powerful posts demonstrating its support for the cause and actions they undertake for it. The brand always conveys very strong messages and does not hesitate to show its support and commitment to these causes. Likewise, adidas has not hesitated to communicate on the covid-19 health crisis, with the #hometeamhero hashtag, with posts in which the virtual events organized by the brand are highlighted always with the same #hometeamhero.
Adidas Instagram posts (May 30, 2020 & June 10, 2020)
Adidas Instagram post (March 25, 2020)
In addition, the brand is used to announce collaborations through posts such as its famous collaboration Adidas x Ivy park, or its collaboration with All Birds to create a sustainable pair of shoes.
Besides that, “Instagram Shopping” is one of Instagram’s recent functionalities. Adidas is using it in order to offer more visibility to products and allow visitors to directly buy its favorite adidas products on Instagram.
Adidas Instagram Shopping
Talking about Adidas Instagram account in few numbers. Adidas is followed by 25,9 million followers and got and engagement rate of 0,33%, based on the latest 20 pictures posted. Compared to the retail whole industry, which have an average engagement rate of 0,67, adidas stands below the average. However, Adidas attracts more and more followers every day.
Engagement rate on Instagram by sector I Total monthly Followers on Instagram of Adidas
Regardless of the nature of the posts, adidas always publishes engaging posts about passion, performance, innovation, sports, exceeding limits, that convey the brand's authentic values and atmosphere. Furthermore, Adidas is extremely committed to many medical, scientific, social or environmental causes, while strongly believe that the bigger you are, the more impact you have. Adidas cleverly using Instagram to enhance brand’s visibility, awareness and engagement. The brand also uses this tool to create dialogue and keep a certain proximity with consumer and audience. Posts allow to increase traffic on the official website since the website adidas.com is regularly mentioned. Posts are always consistent with values and brand image, offering its followers more and more exclusive and industry-related content. The wall creates a real source of motivation for everyone who visits the brand's page, with very pleasant and varied content, with harmonious colors, and fully dedicated to its community and the passion that all the visitors have in common, sports.
References:
Adidas Official Instagram page. Retrieved from https://www.instagram.com/adidas/?hl=fr
Digital Marketing Statistics & Metrics. The Average Instagram Engagement Rate Across Industries Benchmarks 2020 Vs. 2019. Digital Marketing Community. Retrieved from https://www.digitalmarketingcommunity.com/indicators/instagram-engagement-rate/
Julian. (December 30, 2018). What is a good engagement rate on Instagram?. ReachBird. Retrieved from https://www.reachbird.io/magazine/en/what-is-a-good-engagement-rate-on-instagram/
Social Blade. https://socialblade.com/instagram/user/adidas
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